Pocky and Pandas
by Ninjasauras
Summary: "I just want you to be happy." his eyes were sad, and I panicked- he was trying to distance himself from me. "Then let me choose who I'm happy with." I replied, my eyes desperately trying to convey how much he meant to me. "If I fall, it's okay- as long as you're there to catch me." GaaraxOC
1. Chapter 1

_When I was little, Father always encouraged my music. Not for money, but for fun. I would delight in the pride in his eyes, when he would pick me up and spin me around, or play a song for me in return. You don't do that, do you, mother? Why can't you just be proud of me?_

_Isn't it enough that I'm happy?_

Chapter One: First meeting

"No no no, do it again!"

My feet ached and my throat was raw. I slumped to the ground; no one bothered to catch me.

Frustrated, Tono called break.

"We'll try again in ten minutes." Everybody went off to get coffee and cakes and do whatever else they do while on break. I just sat on the floor, staring at my feet, then at the pointed stilettos of my mother.

I looked up at her, "I'm sorry, Mother. I'll do better, just let me get my breath back."

I didn't expect her to clean me up and console me, but her harsh words still hurt, "You're too lazy, Aikidou! Have a little more self-respect and stop disappointing me!"

"But I'm tired, Mother. Can't I rest awhile? Then I'll dance and sing much better, I promise!"

Mother gave me her cold frown, but walked away, muttering the words, "A constant disappointment..." under her breath.

I flinched.

Standing up, I walked over to get a drink of water from my bottle on the side. I looked out over the wall of the Gazebo we were filming in, watching the dusty sand blow past. It reminded me of Father, and my eyes grew sad.

Mother was much nicer when Father was alive. She used to smile. But not anymore.

I don't think she loves me anymore.

"Father?" I said quietly, a frequent habit of mine when I was lonely, "What do you think I should do? Mother's sad, I can feel it. I can sometimes hear her crying when I go to bed. But she's ruining my music for me, Father. I don't enjoy it anymore. It's too painful."

It helped to imagine that the brush of wind on my face held the warmth of my Father's love. I was good at imagining things.

"I don't want to make music anymore."

"If you don't want to, then don't." I squealed at the sudden appearance of a red-haired boy, gazing up at me intently from outside the gazebo. "There's no point in doing something if you don't enjoy it."

I stared at him, then shook my head, "It's the only way I can make Mother proud of me. If that's what it takes, then this is what I'll do." I paused, "What's your name, anyway?"

"Gaara. You?"

"Aikidou Shi." I said, then quickly, "But I hate it."

Gaara watched me in confusion, "But why? It's a pretty name."

"It's not even my real one-" I cut off suddenly, pressing a hand over my mouth, "Oopsie. Wasn't supposed to tell you that."

He cocked his head on one side, "Well, what's your real name, then?"

I sighed, "I can't remember. I've been Aikidou since I was four, and even though I'm only five now I forgot my real name."

"Oh." Gaara looked thoughtful, then smiled, "Well, what if I give you a new name? A name that only you and I know?"

I beamed, "I'd like that."

"Humm..." Gaara looked up at the sky, "There's a girl in my class at the Academy called Amaya. "

I shook my head, "Too girly!"

"What about Kitty?" Gaara said, watching a black one run down the path a short ways behind him. I blew a raspberry.

"You're terrible at thinking of names!" I accused. He frowned, then laughed.

"Fine then, until I can think of a good name, I shall call you Pocky-chan." He snickered. My cheeks reddened.

"What? That's even worse than Kitty! It doesn't suit me at all!" I protested. Gaara just laughed some more.

"It does! Because you seem sweet, and I think that if I ate you, you would taste like chocolate!"

"But I'm made of blood and skin and stuff! That would not taste like chocolate!"

"Your eyes are also chocolate coloured."

"Fine! Then I shall call you Panda-kun!"

_It was the start of a beautiful friendship._


	2. Chapter 2

**Kisu means kiss in Japanese :3**

* * *

_I think that, somehow, I knew that Mother wouldn't approve of you, Gaara. But that didn't matter to me. I was selfish, and made you endure her cold stares so that I could have a friend._

_Sometimes, I can't help but feel that you must have hated me, for that._

Chapter Two

"No, Aiki-chan, it's more like this."

The sound of the violin was long and melancholic, a high pitched, beautiful sound, that could make a person smile and cry in one fell swoop. Kisuke's face was mellow, eyes closed and expression relaxed as he made music. He was a tall, lanky man with constantly messy brown hair and permanent holes in his jeans (and socks). He reminded me of my Father.

I watched him with big eyes as he stopped playing, then frowned determinedly, trying to copy what he did on my violin. It was almost there.

Kisuke kneeled down in front of my, and took my fingers. He arranged them in the correct places, "See, for this part, your fingers are arranged like this. Otherwise it won't sound good, and we can't have that, now can we?" the dark-haired man gave a silly grin, and I giggled.

"No, we can't, Kisuke-sensei!" I replied.

"How many times, Aiki-chan! It's Kisu-sensei, because all of the girls like to kiss me!" he scolded me jokingly, just making me giggle more.

I adored Kisuke-sensei. He was like the fun older brother that I never had, always joking with me and never getting cross when I didn't get something on one of the instruments right away. He had been the one to teach me to play instruments for a long while, since my Father died. He was somewhat a replacement, even if I hadn't necessarily like the exchange at first.

_"Aikidou, this is Kisuke Yumiya. He shall be teaching you to play instruments from now on." Mother said in a cool tone. I squinted up at this man, 'Kisuke', unhappily. Who did he think he was, trying to replace my Father? I would only learn from one man, and that man was dead. Therefore, I would not learn anymore. I would play what I knew, and sing._

_Mother left us to it, and, obliviously, Kisuke said, "Well, you are Aikidou, I presume?"_

_I didn't answer, and he nodded to himself. Over what, I will never know._

_"Shall we get started?" he handed me an instrument gently. A sleek and shiny violin._

_I stared at it with wide eyes. Tears sprung in them, and I threw it down, glaring up at Kisuke._

_"I will not learn from anyone but my Father!" I screamed at him, "He is my only teacher and a great musician, no one will ever replace him so don't even try! Mother might have forgotten him but I won't, ever!"_

_Kisuke didn't say anything, just waited patiently for me to get it out of my system. I kicked, I screamed, I broke things. I hate to think about the terrible verbal abuse I yelled at him._

_When I finally stopped, he knelt in front of me and said, "Okay, so you don't want to learn?"_

_I shook my head stubbornly._

_"And you don't want to play any new music on your instruments?" again, I shook my head._

_Kisuke's dark gold eyes met mine, and he said;_

_"Okay, then, what do you want, Aikidou-san?"_

_I was dumbstruck. The one question that no one had thought to ask me since Father died, the one quest ion that I hadn't expected._

_What did I want? What, if anything, could make my dark world any brighter?_

_I had gone away from the music session that day pondering those questions._

_When I saw him again in two days time, I had decided._

_"I want... I want to play my music for you." I said, unsurely, gazing up at him. He reminded me of Father, and maybe this man would stop and listen to my music and hear my inner voice, see what I wanted him to see, rather than paste a label on it and sell it for money._

_Kisuke's face broke into a relaxed smile. "Okay. Play whatever you want, I will listen."_

_Listen. That word._

_People used it so often, but how many really meant it? Listen? So many would listen without actually hearing._

_Kisuke listened, Kisuke heard. He heard the voice of a young girl in mourning, being forced to move on without a proper goodbye. He heard the voice of a child crying for attention, wanting to be heard, and not just seen._

_He heard what I wanted him to hear, not what the record label wished._

_X_

_Two days later, when my mother delivered me to the studio again, I retrieved the violin from the corner, but Kisuke shook his head._

_"You can put your violin away, Aikidou-san. Today we are going out for a little road trip." he said, and I blinked in confusion, but lowered the instrument._

_"Okay..." I said, placing it carefully in it's battered case._

_Kisuke gave me a smile and held the door of the studio open for me. I smiled in return and thanked him as I passed through, into the rambunctious affairs of the people outside._

_"Where are we going?" I asked, and Kisuke just gave me an ominous glance._

_"You'll see." he said, and I frowned._

_We stopped, and I glanced at the odd man beside me. "A florist?"_

_"Just a quick stop." he answered, going inside. I followed. We stood before a shelf with different varieties of flower- well the few that were able to flourish in Suna's hot climate. Kisuke turned to me, "Choose some flowers."_

_I quirked a brow, but nonetheless, picked out some large white daisies. Kisuke said nothing, purchasing the flowers with a thank you to the florist, and we left._

_"What are the flowers for?" I asked._

_"Why did you choose daisies, Aikidou-san?" Kisuke answered my question with another. I frowned, biting my lip._

_"They were my Father's favourite." I whispered, and he just nodded, looking straight ahead. I clutched the flowers in my hand._

_"Close your eyes, Aikidou-san." he said, and I frowned at him._

_"Why?"_

_"Because."_

_"That's not an answer." I mumbled, but closed them._

_"No peeking." he said._

_"I won't."_

_We walked for a while, Kisuke's large hands on my small shoulders guiding me. It was astounding at the time; he was only about seventeen, eighteen, only thirteen years older than me, and yet his hands were so much bigger than mine._

_"Okay, you can open your eyes now." he told me, so I did._

_I let out a gasp. There before me was a gravestone, the name '_Karu Tenshi_' engraved on it. '_Beloved husband and father. You will be missed_.'_

_This was the first time I had seen this gravestone. Mother hadn't even allowed me to go to the funeral, and never gave me a reason._

_Tears ran tracks down my face. "Father..."_

_Mother was livid when she found out. I had heard her shouting at Kisuke. But, somehow, he had talked her around._

_That night, I heard her crying, whispering my Father's name._

"Well, I think that's enough for today. Remember to go over the chords every day, and practice with your piano and guitar too." Kisuke's eyes crinkled in a teasing smile, "You don't want to get rusty, now do you?"

I shook my head, and grinned as I headed to the door, seeing my mother waiting outside, "Bye, Kisuke-sensei!"

He waved, and I shut the door behind me.

**X**

We were back at the gazebo now. It was the final runthrough before I performed my new song. We were just taking a short break, and then we'd continue.

I gazed out from the Gazebo, and grinned. "Panda-kun!"

Gaara was sat on the wooden swing that was across the park from the Gazebo. He looked up and smiled, but not before I caught the traces of hurt that were on his face.

"Hey, Pocky-chan." he said as he came over. I grinned, ignoring the name.

Gaara was fast becoming my closest friend (even though he was my only friend), and in the few weeks I had known him, I positively adored him. I hadn't told anyone except Kisuke about my new friend yet- I would have liked to tell mother, but she was always busy when I wanted to tell her about things.

"Panda-kun, d'you want to come inside and play?" I suddenly asked, "I'm going to be performing again in a few minutes, but you can come and watch."

Gaara shifted uncomfortably, "Are you sure that that would be okay?"

"I wouldn't ask you if it wasn't, dummy." I said, sure of myself. Gaara was my friend, and wherever I was welcome, he was welcome, as far as I was concerned. "Come on!"

He smiled, "Okay!"

I grabbed his hand and helped pull him up over the railing, and we collapsed in a heap on the floor when he got over. Well, I collapsed. Gaara seemed to land in a cushion of sand that I didn't notice before.

"Hey, I didn't see that sand before. Did you?" I asked Gaara. He just shrugged, looking away.

"Back on in five!" someone shouted, and I grabbed Gaara's hand.

"C'mon, this way! We need to hurry back!" I said, a mile-wide grin still on my face as I tugged him along.

I sat Gaara down in a chair near the front, and grinned at him as the director gave me some instructions. He smiled back, and the music started.

I threw myself into it with a new vigour, determined to sing and dance my best for my friend. I'm not sure why, exactly... but I wanted my friend to enjoy my music, even if I didn't.

When the song was finished, I was breathing heavily, chest heaving.

I ran over to Gaara, and his expression was unhappy. I was disheartened.

"Didn't you like it?" I asked, and he gazed up at me with pain-filled eyes.

"You are a wonderful singer." He said, earnestly, "But I don't think I want to watch anymore, Pocky-chan."

I frowned, confused, "But if you think I'm good, why not?"

He didn't answer, just stood and smiled. "C'mon, let's go outside!"

He grabbed my hand, and pulled me along. The producers and directors yelled after us. We laughed at them.

_I think, now, that you knew how painful it was for me to sing and dance. You didn't want to watch me put myself through it, which was why you refused to view my performances, no matter how much I begged._

_I guess you understood me more than I thought, Gaara._

* * *

**Chapter Two, el finito!**

**R&R, peeps!_  
_**


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